Katy grows into busy suburb

Houston Chronicle

Updated 12:10 pm, Thursday, May 23, 2013

Photo: Smiley N. Pool, Staff

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In much of the state's eyes, Katy is symbolized by high school football prowess.. Katy High won state titles in 1997, 2000, 2003, 2007, 2008 and 2012. Katy wide receiver Peyton Stevenson celebrates in front of a state champs banner after a victory over Cedar Hill in the Class 5A Division II state championship football game at Cowboys Stadium in 2012.
n Saturday, Dec. 22, 2012, in Arlington. less

In much of the state's eyes, Katy is symbolized by high school football prowess.. Katy High won state titles in 1997, 2000, 2003, 2007, 2008 and 2012. Katy wide receiver Peyton Stevenson celebrates in front of ... more

Photo: Smiley N. Pool, Staff

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Katy Mills Mall has grown into a hub for shoppers throughout the west side of Houston and beyond.

Katy Mills Mall has grown into a hub for shoppers throughout the west side of Houston and beyond.

Photo: Melissa Phillip, Staff

Katy grows into busy suburb

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The Katy area, which straddles three counties, Harris, Fort Bend and Waller, was once a quiet, rural rice farming community. Now, this former prairie has developed into a bustling suburb peppered with numerous master-planned residential communities, large-scale commercial developments, churches, hotels, and schools with a reputation for excellence.

The 10.7-square-mile city of Katy has a population of about 15,000 residents but the greater area, marked by the boundaries of the 181-square-mile Katy Independent School District, has grown to more than 270,000 people.

In the mid-1800s Katy was called Cane Island after the creek running through the area, which is now a branch of the Buffalo Bayou. The name Katy, based on the MKT Railroad, was adopted in the late 1800s.

Extensive freeway development on Interstate 10, State Highway 99 and the recently constructed Westpark Tollway has helped pave the way for extensive commercial and residential development over the past 20 years. When the Katy Mills outlet mall opened in 1999, it triggered a retail boom which saw the construction of the LaCenterra and Villagio shopping centers several years later in the large master planned Cinco Ranch community.

Several corporations such as Igloo and the Room Store as well as various petroleum-industry related businesses, drawn to Katy by its business friendly atmosphere, are now headquartered in the vicinity.

Main Event Entertainment, a family entertainment company based in Dallas, recently opened a center in the 129-acre multi-use development of Katy Ranch Crossing, located near Katy Mills mall and Interstate 10. Hospitals such as Memorial Hermann, Texas Children's, M.D. Anderson Cancer Center and Texas Methodist have opened or expanded facilities to serve the area. In 2009, the Gadberry Group named Katy as one of nine most notable high-growth areas in the United States.

Education

Katy Independent School District

Nowhere is growth more evident in the area than in the Katy Independent School District where the enrollment has skyrocketed from a small district in the 1900s to one of the fastest-growing in the state with more than 50 schools and 60,000 pupils in 2013. The district's boundaries stretch from the Houston energy corridor, approximately 16 miles west of downtown Houston, to a few miles west of the city of Katy along Interstate 10.

Katy ISD is poised to open its seventh high school, named after longtime Katy educator Obra. D. Tompkins, in August to accommodate rapid growth in the southwestern quadrant of the district.

LaCenterra recently entered the second development phase of the retail center on Cinco RanchBoulevard, where new stores and restaurants are opening this spring.

The Willowfork Drainage District has embarked on a project, funded by a $29 million bond project, to develop park and trail systems connecting the school district facilities with the community. Projects including 10 schools were completed in 2012 while work on several community parks and trails are in progress.

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